John grant



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JOI-IN GRANT, OF HAMPSTE AD, ENGLAND.

LetterspPatcnt No. 89,214, dated April 20, 1869.

APPARATUS FOR TURING THE LEAVES OF BOOKS OR MUSIC.

To all lwhom 'it 'may concern Be it known that I, J 011m GnANT,of Hampstead, Middlesex, England, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Turning Over the Leaves oi' Music- Books or Pieces, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof', reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making a part of this specification. i

My invention is applicable to music-stands, pianofortes, organs, and other musical instruments; and consists chiefly in the employment of a peculiarlyconstructed screw, which acts directly upon the leaves to be turned over, and is arranged in combination with devices for imparting to it the required motion.

In order more clearly to explain my invention, and that the meaning of such terms as,.right, left, and 'diSappears, may be clearly understood, I will suppose a person to be standing or sitting in front of and facing a music-book or piece of music, lying open on a music-stand, or upon the book-rest of a pianoforte, or other musical instrument, and myidescription must be understood to have reference to a person standing Qr sitting in such a position.

In carrying out my invention, I form a right-handed screw upon a straight spindle, which screw has a very deep thread, the space between each turn of the thread and fthe next being intended to receive one of the leaves to be turned over, so that the number of leaves with which the screw can be charged at one time must necessarily depend upon the number of' such spaces.

I form the thread, by preference, of uniform depth, from the bottom upward, until the last turn is reached, when I increase the depth, and also the pitch of the thread.

I merge the end of the thread at the bottom, by a gradual slope, into the turn ofthe thread next above, so as to'closel the bottom end of the space between the turns of the thread of the screw.

At the upper termination of the thread, its outer circumference. extends a distance of several inches from the spindle, and far beyond the outer circumference of the lower turns of the thread.

To lighten and improve the shape of the thread at its upper termination, I hollow out a portion of it, between the outer and inner ciroumferences, leaving it in a concave form, with a short projection, which I will naine the thumb, near the spindle, and projecting outward iiom it, I place the spindle, in fixed bearings, in which it can turn freely, which bearings are so placed, 'with reference to the music-book or pieceoi music, lying open upon the stand or book-rest, as hereinbeiore described, that the spindle shall he close to the top oi' the book or piece of music a short distance to the right of the blding-joint or axis of the book or piece of music, and at right angles tp thc plane of such book or piece of music, and so xthat the thread of the screw shall be held in a position parallel to such plane, with the exception ofthe slight deviation caused by the pitch of the thread, and so that'the thread of the screw, with the exception of' the uppermost turn of' the thread, shall partly overhang the right-hand leaves, without extending so far as the folding-joint or axis ofl the hook or piece of music, but so that a portion ofthe uppermost turn of the thread shall, at each revolution ofthe spindle, reach over or across such folding-joint or axis, so as to overhang the left-hand leaves.

Motion may be imparted to the spindle in many ways, but 'I prefer the following:

I place a driving-pulley horizontally on a pivot, on or near the ground, under the music-stand, or under or in front of the piano-forte, or other musical instrument, and in such a position that the toot ot the performer, or an assistant, may be conveniently placed upon it, as upon a footstool, and so that such drivingpulley may be pushed round either way, by the foot so placed upon it.

I then connect such driving-pulley by means of a round band, or belt, passing overv guide-pulleys, and over a pulley fixed on the spindle.

By preference, I make the driving-pulley of larger diameter than the driven pulley, in order that a partial revolntion of the former may produce an entire revolution of the latter, and consequently ofthe screw.

In order to adjust the position of the screw to the varying thicknesses of difiere-nt music-books or pieces of music, I fix the driven pulley to the spindle by means of a set-screw, by loosening which the spindie may be either drawn forward or pushed backward, independently of the driven pulley, which is then again xed to the spindle by tightening the set-screw.

'Description of the Dra-wings.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a music-stand fitted with my invention, and having a music-book resting upon it.

Figure 2 is a side elevation o f the saine music-stand fitted with my invention, but without any music-book.

Figure 3 is a section of the spindle-driven pulley and screw in the position shown in fig. 2, and .also of the bearings in which the spindle revolves, and ofthe upper part ol' the book-rest of the music-stand, the line of section passing through the points @and s, iig. if

Figure 4 is another section ot' the spindle, driven pulley, screw-bearings, and upper part of the bookrest of the music-stand, in the same position, as shown in tig. 3, except that the line ol' sect-ion passes through the points t and u, in iig. l, the position of those points being lirst changed by a quarter turn of the driven pulley, spindle, und screw, so as to bring the points t and u within the same line of section of the bearings and upper part of the book-rest of' the music-stand, as shown in lig'. l5.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation oi' the driving-pulley and pivot-stand.

Like letters refer to the corresponding parts in all the figures in which they occur'.

A is the pedestal of the music-stand.

B is the book-rest.

O is the music-book.

D is the spindle.

E is the screw.

F is the upper turn of the thread of the screw.

G is that projecting part of the upper turn of the thread of the screw hereinbef'ore named the thumb.

H is the driving-pulley.

I is the pivot-stand, and

J, the pivot on which the driving-pulley H revolves.

K is the driven pulley. v

L is the band connecting the driving-pulley H with the driven pulley K.

M M M are guide-pulleys over which the band L passes, and

N is a set-screw, fixing the driven pulley K to the spindle D.

Having described the several parts of my invention, I now proceed to describe the manner of carrying the same into effect.

The book or piece of music, the leaves of which are to be turned over, being opened at the end of the leaves to be turned over, and so placed upon the music-stand,or upon the book-rest of the piano-forte, organ, or other musical instrument, as hereinbefore described, and in such a position,'with reference to theseveral parts of my invention, as hereiubefore described, the performer or assistant commences to charge the screw, by turning aleaf over backward, by hand, at the same time placing thc foot upon the driving-pulley, `and pushing it, so 'as to cause it to revolve sufficiently to produce au entire revolution of the driven pulley K, and through it an entire upward revolution of the screw E, which seizes the leaf that is being turu'cd over backward,and forces it downward into the space between the twoupper turns of the thread of the screw.

The next leaf is then treated in the samelrnanner, and brought, in its turn, into thespace which is vacated by the previous leaf, which is, at the-same time, forced down into the second space between the turns of the thread of the screw, and so on, in succession, until all the leaves are turned over backward, and an equal number', less one, ofthe spaces between the turns of the thread, from the top of the scr'ew downward, is charged with the leaves, one in each space, and in regular order, and one leaf, namely, the last turned over backward, is laid upon the lowest side of the uppermost turn of the thread of the screw, under th'e short projection G, which I have named the thumb. by which it is securely heldin that position, as shown in lig. 1.

The screw E has now been charged, so that the performer or assistant can turn over theleaves forward at pleasure, or at the precise time required for the perfect execution of the musical performance, in the following manner, that is to say, by means of one foot of the performer or assistant placed on and pushing the driving-pulley H, it is made to revolve in the opposite direction to that employed in charging the screw, thus imparting a downward motion to the screw, the thread of which forces the leaves upward, so that each turn ofthe screw brings a leaf ou to the lowest end ofthe upper side ofthe uppermost turn, F, of the thread of the screw, where it is held, or'prevented from turning over, by the before-mentioned thumb G, the leaf that was before retained in that position being simultaneously, by the same revolution of the screw, rst raised higher up the uppermost turn F of the thread of the screw, the upper' end 'of which disappears below such leaf, and then reaches across the folding-joint or axis of the book or piece of music, at the same time pushing or turning the leaf beneath which it was hidden completely over to the left side of the folding-joint or axis of the book or piece of music, by an 'action closely resembling the action of the right hand of a human being, as it is often employed in turning over music-leaves.

The hidden portion of the uppermost turn F ofthe thread of the screw then again appears in sight above the leaf, which its upper end holds down to the left of the folding-joint oraxis of the book or piece of music, andthe screw is then left stationary, in such a position that a part of the uppermost turn F of the thread, at or near the upper end thereof, shall be over the upper margin of the left-hand-leaf, holding it down in the manner shown in fig. 1, and which closely resembles the manner in which music-leaves are often held down by the fore-linger of the human right hand.

At the same time, the right-hand leaf is held down by the short projection G, which I have named the thumb, in the manner also shown in tig. 1, and which closely resembles'the manner in which music-leaves are oltenheld down by the thumb of the human right hand.

The next revolution of the screw E turns over the nekt leaf, which is held down on the lett, as before, and so on until the whole of the leaves with which the screw was charged are turned over, completing the process, which may be repeated, with other or the same leaves, as often as may be required.

That lclairn as rny.iuvention, and desire'to secure by Letters Patent, is-

,1. The' combination otka deep threaded screw, E, operated by any suitable mechanism, with a book-rest, B, for the purpose of turning the leaves of a. book placed upon said rest, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination of a thumb-piece, G, with the upper turn F of a deepthreaded screw, when said screw is attached to a book-rest, and made to operate, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination of a horizontal foot-wheel, or driving-pulley H with a deep-threaded screw, E, and suitable book-rest B, and with any suitable intermediate gearing, L, K, Ste., substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

. JOHN GRANT. [1.. s]

Witnesses:

WM. RoBT. LAKE, THos. W. PALMER. 

